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THanks for all the help. I actually did this stuff before you replied but i did what ya said.

The copper T and the 3/4" female adapter i have is soldered and working great. the 3/4" pvc elbow i screwed into the copper is leaking a TAD, i just see small drops on the connection, but it's not like FLOWING. i got all the other assembly done too, hopefully i did it good enough it looks sort of crappy but that's what i get for doing it myself.

and holy CRUD, it took my father and I 8 hrs to get the friggin pc under the driveway.

mistake #1, used 3/4" sch 200 pvc instead of 1" or 3/4" schedule 40.
mistake #2, wanted to go under the driveway to begin with.
mistake #3, live in florida can we say SMUD (sandy mud for those floridaically challenged)

i DID find out that a lawn edger does a GREAT job cutting the grass 1-2 inches though we did that on either side of the pvc and then just shoveled up ONE side of the trench and pulled the grass over, was SOOOO much easier then shoveling.

but man, 2 days, and all i got was the main assembly done and the pipe trenched and laid out, it's not even glued yet

When you cut into the mainline to solder the tee, cut only what is needed to get the tee into the line. Usually I measure that by holding the tee up to the pipe and marking the spot where the pipe will bottom out on both sides of the tee. You can see where the socked ends by the bulge on the tee. If you have some play in the pipe you can just force the tee into place. If not you will need to use a 'SLIDER' coupling and a length of pipe. A slider coupling is a 3/4 inch copper coupling without stops. It will allow you to slide it all the way down, thereby installing the tee and length of pipe. You may need to use a slider on top and on the bottom if there is absolutely no give in the existing pipe. Usually though there is some give.

As for not using the hose bibb: The hose bibb is hydraulically challenged! You will get very little flow through a hose bibb. Also the threads on the hose bibb (male ones where water comes out!) are hose threads and there aren't very many of them. When you install your adapter and a 45 degree elbow of some sort and then a valve of some sort....blah blah blah....you have essentially reduced this hose bibb to about 4-6 gallons of water per minute...MAXIMUM. This will limit your design to very small zones. This could bump the price of your system way up. Not to mention, once you install the PVB on top of all that mess, you could take a picture and send it in to the "new Rube Goldberg" coffee table picture book.

Good luck soldering and remember, take the extra time to clean and flux the copper fittings very good and get ALL THE WATER out of the line before soldering it will save major frustrations. Use 1/4 inch poly tubing as a siphon to get the water out of the lower pipe!!

hmmm i guess we will never know i have opted to just use a 3/4" by 3/4" copper Tee. just gonna hack off the length of the T and solder the tee in there. then i got a 3/4" female adapter to just screw in some 3/4" pvc elbow to go up to my pvb. ill let ya know how it turns out gonna attempt this this weekend.

I was also thinking that I could maybe use a hose bib as a starting place for a sprinkler system. Just like DJORaziel, I am a bit nervous about tapping into the main line (and my wife is extremely nervous).

so i can't use the hose bib. ggrrr i called a few sprinkler companies, they didn't want to "get it started for me" and let me do the rest. and i called a plumber but they said like 200 bucks. so i guess i need to just take a regular copper 3/4" tee that goes out at 3/4" and solder or weld or whatever that into the main line?

ok lemme ask this. with that 3/4 main there, it's T'd off going into the house, then to a hose bib. can i just connect to the hose bib, use that as a shut off value and then just screw pvc into it and go to the PVB from there?

ok yes i do live in warm climate, florida and ok, i guess what i need to find is a compression T that's 3/4" that goes to 3/4" the only ones i saw were 3/4" to 1/2" then i can put in a shut off valve. ok. i guess that's what i will do. thanks.

also, i looked at home depot, they have 3/4" X 3/4" compression T's if i can just FIND one. if i get that, that can be installed vertical? on the pipe, just after the shut off right? that way i can go off it, now do i need to put that shut off ball valve before the PVB? do i need a shut off if i have a PVB? (pressure vacuum breaker)

and do those compression T's last a while? will i have to worry about it breaking or leaking or anything? thanks again.

ok nevermind home depot doesn't carry the stuff. so now i am back to square one.

if anyone wants to take pity on someone who doesn't know what they are doing and wants to offer some help you can email me at jmjohnston@tsiconnections.com

You probably have a 5/8" water meter, and a 3/4" mainline. If you live in a warm climate and your home's mainline is NOT in the basement, you can use a brass or plastic compression tee to hook into your home's service line. You'll need to cut a 1" section out of the service line(mainline). Also besure that you do not sut into the pipe before the water meter or shutoff valve, due to that there would be no way that you could shut the water off to install the tee. Slip the tee on and tighten the compression nuts. Using a compression tee gives you a water-tight connection without threading or soldering any pipe. Do not use a compression tee if your mainline is in you house or basement. Then install a gate valve of ball valve (for system shutoff) and begin the pipe run to your valves. Be sure to install a backflow prevention device between the shutoff valve and the valve manifold.

Although I lean towards soldering the tee on, this is a much easier way to tap into your mainline.

doh. i already called a plumber and they want to charge me $200 for it. i dont mind welding if i have to. but is that what i do? just cut a section in the pipe and weld in a copper T? the only one i could find at home depot was a 3/4 that has a 1/2 output. so i got some 1/2 pipe to cut a small snip, then a 1/2 to 3/4 female screw adapter so i could screw in a 3/4" elbow pvc to go to my PVB.

what's the best way to get the copper T into the copper pipe and should it be before the main water shut off valve? or after?